


Our Pack

by NevaRYadL



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: BECAUSE MY NONBINARY ASS CAN, Discussing Feelings, Fl4k learning new things every day because being sentient is hard, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Other, Pining, Polyamory, Temporary Angst, They/Them Pronouns for Zer0 (Borderlands), This is absolute self indulgence so no bitchin in my kitchen, polycule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24011809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NevaRYadL/pseuds/NevaRYadL
Summary: Fl4k likes Zer0. Fl4k also ends up liking Axton. Fl4k also ends up liking Rhys.At first, things seem complicated. But in the end, maybe they're not.
Relationships: Axton/Rhys/Zer0 (Borderlands), Axton/Rhys/Zer0/Fl4k (Borderlands)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	Our Pack

They liked Zer0.

There was a beauty to the way that they killed, the cutting efficiency, the way that they used their blade like an extension of their own body and much like their beasts used their talons and fangs. And while they had never cared for poetry before, there was something oddly soothing from Zer0’s manner of speaking in haiku and the measured syllables. Even their helmet that allowed them to show a manner of expression.

They liked Zer0, they really did.

They had just gotten back from helping Rhys with something. Some bandits or another that had been paid in guns from some corporate leader or another, Fl4k did not pay much attention when it was explained and Rhys had not bothered with much detail, just that Mr. Chew was gurgling happily from a full belly of bandit meat and they got to hunt with Zer0 once again. Also, Zer0 kept emoting ‘ :D ‘ at them and they wished to spend more time with the deadly assassin.

“Zer0, what do you do in your off time?” Fl4k tried, hoping to ease into asking Zer0 to casually ‘hang out’.

“I clean my weapons / I add the deaths to my death count / why do you ask Fl4k?” Zer0 hummed, flashing them a ‘ ? ‘.

“I enjoy your company and would like to be friends with you, outside of work and hunting. I was wondering if perhaps we could chat casually, maybe at Moxxi’s bar tonight?” Fl4k offered.

“Unfortunately / tonight I have other plans / another night Fl4k?” Zer0 said, giving them a ‘ :< ‘. “I would love to chat / and hang out casually too / wish to be friends too.”

“No need to apologize, I completely understand. May I ask what you’re doing tonight? I feel like I hardly know you, despite how many times we have hunted together,” Fl4k tried, using every ounce of human conversation and social grace they had been picking up from their coworkers. Even if it was slightly thin given the… sociopathic streak running a mile wide in Sanctuary 3. 

“Tonight is date night / I made plans to get dressed up / it’s going to be fun!” Zer0 said, displaying a ‘ : D ‘. 

Oh.

“Ah… I was not aware that you had a significant other,” Fl4k said, having managed a small miracle in keeping tone out of their voice.

“Not just one my friend / I really have two of them / They’re Axton and Rhys.”

They still liked Zer0 but opted to keep any further interest in them to themself. It was not fair to themself or Zer0 to pin after a taken person. They still liked Zer0.

Now it just hurt a little.

* * *

They ‘met’ Axton not long after that meeting.

They were at the bar, Broodless sat next to them in a booth while Amara excitedly talked about something. Probably Moze, given her crush. While she slammed Padorean swill with ease, they numbly paid attention and they fed Broodless scraps of meat that Moxxi had put on the table with more beers several minutes ago. She always had a strange fondness for their beasts, and in return the creatures were fond of her too.

“Moxxi!”

“Why, if it ain’t my soldier boy? How are you, sugar?”

Fl4k lifted their head and saw a handsome man approaching Moxxi, she threw her arms out and drew him readily into a hug that had him chuckling. When they parted, he offered her a grin.

“Dig the new look, Moxxi! You look great!”

“Ain’t you just the sweetest thing, Axton?”

Given the unique name, that had to be one of Zer0’s romantic partners. They found themself focusing on the conversation for some reason, back and forth ‘how are you’s and ‘how have you been?’ and ‘what’s new?’s. And apparently they were paying a lot of attention to it, because Amara brought her hand up mere centimeters from their face and snapped her fingers several times to break them away and make them jerk their head towards her.

“My apologies,” Fl4k sputtered, embarrassed.

“...” Amara looked over at Axton, still chatting away with Moxxi. “Yeah, I guess he is cute. But Fl4k! What about poor Ellie!”

“What?”

“That’s why you were staring, right?” Amara grinned lopsidedly.

“I… he… yes he is handsome, and Ellie is also attractive, but no,” Fl4k quickly said, feeling their vocalizer go static at the edges and only making Amara smirk harder. “No, I recognized the name from something that Zer0 said.”

“Zer0, what did that skinny beanpole say about him?”

“They are dating, along with Rhys? I do not understand relationships enough to comment further…”

“Oh! Polycule something? Poly… polyamory!” Amara grinned. “That! That’s when more than two people date and everyone knows about one another? Something like that… but hey, good for them!”

“Yes, good for them,” Fl4k said, giving Axton one more look before turning their attention back to Broodless.

And they would have been content to leave it there. Go back to mindlessly feeding Broodless and listening to Amara talk at length about Moze, Lilith, all the women that she loved in some manner or another. It would have been fine.

“And these are Amara and Fl4k!” Moxxi said, making them jump from her seemingly sudden appearance. She had Axton’s arm in hers like she usually liked to do if someone did not mind how casually physically affectionate she was, hip cocked as she smiled at the two of them. “Amara, Fl4k, this sweet thing is Axton.”

“Hey! Nice to meet you!” Amara said, putting an arm out and shaking Axton’s offered hand.

“Greetings,” Fl4k offered, and then crashed hard. “Zer0 has spoken a little about you, if you are the same Axton.”

“Aww, did they now?” Axton grinned. “If you’re the same Fl4k, they’ve talked about you too.”

“Ah. Yes, we’ve worked together a number of times for Rhys. I enjoy working with them.”

“I’ve got a few customers to look after, Ax, how about you chat with these two for a bit? Your first drink is one me,” Moxxi smiled.

“Sure thing, Moxxi, you’re a doll.”

And like that, Axton sat at the table with them and amicably chatted with them and the terrible feeling… did not feel so terrible.

They liked Axton.

* * *

“If it isn’t my two favorite problem solvers,” Rhys grinned at the two of them.

“Greetings Rhys… were is your… ‘seige-stace’?” Fl4k asked.

“You just answered your own question,” Rhys sheepishly chuckled, rubbing at his five o clock shadow dusted jaw, clear of any other form of facial hair.

While Axton was speaking with them at Moxxi’s bar, Axton had invited them to dinner at Rhys’ place. When they had made note that they do not eat, Axton had laughed in this charming fashion that had added several charming creases at the corner of his eyes and around his mouth and said it was more for them, himself, Rhys and Zer0 to hang out for an evening. Fl4k found themself accepting without thinking about it.

And here they were, standing in Rhys’ doorway with Zer0 at their side, freshly done with a mission and now here for dinner.

“I hope you do not mind, but Zer0 rushed us over here rather quickly,” Fl4k said as Zer0 easily strolled in, stopping by Rhys’ side to affectionately bump their helmet against his forehead, before walking further into the apartment. “One of my beasts is still with me…”

“Oh?” Rhys asked.

Mr. Chew stayed obediently at their side, but eagerly waggled his stumpy tail as he looked up at Rhys, who understandably recoiled at the sight of a skag, but quickly recovered. After staring for a second, Rhys reached down and gently rubbed Mr. Chew’s head, much to the beast’s delight.

“Uh… hi there,” Rhys chuckled.

“He is well behaved, I promise. He does have a habit of fetching things--”

“Can he find my socks?” Rhys laughed.

Mr. Chew rushed in and dashed down a hallway. They watched, flabbergasted for a moment, before Mr. Chew came back with a sock in his maw.

“Oh my god… that one has been missing for a month,” Rhys gaped.

They laughed.

Dinner for those that could eat was this pasta dish that apparently Axton cooked and was finishing up. Seeing their beast when Fl4k walked into the dining room with Rhys, Axton offered to take some of the hamburger from the fridge and offer Mr. Chew something to eat. It felt very kind and felt very rude to turn it down, so Fl4k accepted. And when the four of them sat down to eat, Mr. Chew had a paper plate with some hamburger to eat.

That just left Fl4k to make conversation with the three--

Zer0 felt around the edges of their helm and with a hiss, the helmet was released and taken off and set aside.

“Ah,” Fl4k said.

“It would be very hard / to eat with my helmet on / does my face offend?” Zero asked. Without the helmet, their voice no longer had the robotic sound to it. And perhaps that was the reason that Fl4k had an assumption that they were robotic in nature. Underneath… underneath was not robotic in nature.

“No, I always thought that you were something more like me,” Fl4k said as he looked over the intricate plating that covered most of Zer0’s face. Where there was no plating, there was duly colored grey skin. Decidedly alien. “I see now that I am wrong. But I am honored to see your face, my friend.”

The plating shifted and it took Fl4k a moment to realize that they were smiling at them.

“Don’t ask them what they are, they’re always changing the story,” Rhys chuckled.

Fl4k and Axton chuckled as Zer0 huffed, plating shifting in a rustling like motion.

The rest of the night passed in a very easy fashion. They talked, they laughed, and they joked around like old friends. Mr. Chew found several more garish socks that Rhys was apparently missing, much to the group’s howling delight. And all in all, Fl4k felt… comfortable and safe with the three. They felt like a pack. Like when Fl4k traveled with his beasts or went on a hunt with one of his coworkers. It felt… good.

They liked the three.

* * *

“Ooooh Fl4k… baby… my sweet honey sugar lumps--”

“How may I assist you, Moxxi?” Fl4k quickly said before she could get far into her tangent. Zane had made the mistake of ignoring her once and the entire bar listened to her annoy the man into submission to prove a point. You just did not ignore Moxxi when she was sweetly asking for your attention. “Is there an ex-lover that I need to violently murder again?”

“Aw, sugar, ain’t you just the sweetest for offering? But no, not today,” Moxxi chuckled softly. “I was wondering if I could send you out on a little errand with Axton? There’s this lovely cacti that adds a sweet flavor to brews and I want to make some fruity cocktails here at the bar. Just need you to head down to Pandora and hack up some cacti for me, pretty please?”

“Why Axton--”

Moxxi reached underneath her bar and came up with a very long, very sleek and very shiny sniper rifle. It looked positively like highly polished Death.

“I hope this is payment enough,” Maxxi said, pouting out her lips and giving Fl4k her best ‘puppy’ eyes.

“You are being odd… but that is a very deadly sniper rifle…”

Moxxi just beamed.

So they suited up and traveled down to Pandora and met up with Axton.

“We will be hunting together today, it seems,” Fl4k said when they found Axton waiting by a Catch A Ride.

“Seems so, nice to work with ya, sweetheart,” Axton smiled.

For some reason, Fl4k was flustered by the pet name, but kept that to themself as Axton summoned a car for them to get into and start driving to the other side of the Droughts. Axton turned on the radio, picking up the Crimson Raiders radio signal and nodding as some rock song started playing, turning it and the a/c unit on.

“... Moxxi seemed like she was acting odd,” Fl4k brought up as Axton drove onwards. They paused so that Axton could twist the ride around and aim the machine gun at a Psycho’s car and Fl4k could lean out and pepper it with gun fire until it imploded and they could keep going.

“A little, to be honest,” Axton hummed nonchalantly. “What’d she pay you with?”

“A very, very, very nice sniper rifle.”

“Huh. Moxxi’s pretty liberal with the rewards usually, she knows how to keep the fighters around, especially the Vault Hunters. But she doesn’t pull out the top, _top_ shelf stuff unless it’s something personal or she’s plannin’ something,” Axton said, frowning at the road.

They had to stop several times to destroyl other cars on the road or take out raiders and Psychos. They chatted along the way, Axton describing some of his military service and mercenary work and his need for fame and glory.

“I’ve… mostly outgrown it,” Axton chuckled sheepishly, “I guess it sunk in that I have two people waiting at home for me. They’d miss my dumb ass if it was gone.”

“They are quite lucky to have you as part of their pack,” Fl4k said noncommittally.

“Anyone waiting for you back home?”

“My beasts.”

“I mean… anyone special?”

“No.”

“Ah.”

They found the cacti that Moxxie needed by a skag den. While Meat-Thief kept both himself entertained and kept the skags dying, they hacked up as much cacti as they thought that they could carry, finished off the skags and then drove back to a fast travel point to make it up to the ship.

“It was nice workin’ with you today, sweetheart,” Axton said, breaking the silence.

“It was good to hunt with you today too, Axton,” They said.

Axton leaned over and hooked an arm around their shoulder.

They liked Axton.

* * *

“Hey you!”

“Hello again, Rhys,” Fl4k said, standing in the CEO’s office. “You wished to speak with me?”

“Yeah, I have a prototype gun I would like you to test out,” Rhys said, going over to his desk and picking up a small case.

“Ah, of course. I always do enjoy Atlas guns, they always tend to be well made and some of the better guns I find,” Fl4k said conversationally as Rhys came over with the case.

“That is a pretty damn good compliment in my book,” Rhys grinned, stopping before them and opening the case, revealing an admittedly small and sleek pistol.

“The trigger…” Fl4k said, narrowing their optic to look at the oddly constructed trigger. And handle now that they were looking.

“Yeah, it was mentioned one of your ‘beasts’ uses a gun?” Rhys smiled.

Ah. Fl4k summoned Meat-Thief and handed him the gun. The jabber looked at the gun in his hands, pulling the trigger hesitantly and Fl4k suddenly glad for the foresight to not have loaded it with ammo. But even without, the jabber chittered excitedly and bounced on his feet at the gun that was obviously very comfortable to wield.

“Meat-Thief approves,” Fl4k said, bending down to rub Meat-Thief’s head. And then they paused. “It is very kind of you to make a gun for my beast. But why?”

Rhys just shrugged.

“Why not?”

They liked Rhys.

* * *

They found themself at Moxxi’s bar.

“Why the long face, sugar?” Moxxie asked.

“I am regretting the inability to consume alcohol and my sudden self-sentience that allows me to feel emotions,” Fl4k said, head laying on their arms on the counter.

“I heard Claptrap sometimes sticks a fork in a socket and gets the same effect as a few of my Pandoran Flats shots, but that’s our resident super general,” Moxxi hummed. “But sweetness, why so blue?”

“I do not enjoy the feeling of ‘pining’,” Fl4k muttered.

“Aw, sugar.”

And they did not. And it seemed like it was bad enough when it was just Zer0 that they pined after. But now they were pining after Axton and Rhys and it felt worse. They were taken with each other. They were not available. So why did Fl4k’s programming want them? Want to be part of their pack? Was this that human greed that drove so many people to lunacy? No wonder people went mad over lusting after the things that they could not have, paid people like Fl4k to kill people and get those things, only to want more not even a month later. This was horrible.

“You know. Talking with people usually helps,” Moxxi offered. “It seems like such a simple thing, I know. Such a silly thing. But no one damn person was ever socialized right, ever taught how to properly express themselves. So talking actually does wonders in most cases.”

Fl4k made their vocalizer produce a rough grunt of sound.

“At least try for me, sugar? I hate to see such a lovely face down in the dumps.”

“My face cannot express emotion.”

“I think it can, sugar, in its own unique way,” Moxxi chuckled softly.

Fl4k grunted again.

* * *

Zer0 invited them out to dinner again with Rhys, themself and Axton. They had accepted despite everything, this time making sure that they’re beasts were tucked away in bed beforehand so that they did not need to worry about them misbehaving in Rhys’ apartment. Just them and the three people that they were pining over. It was incredibly stupid of them. They were around too many incredibly stupid people all day. And emotions were stupid and this was all stupid and hopeless--

“Fl4k.”

They had managed to make it through dinner before excusing themself to stand in front of one of the large windows that looked out over the city around the apartment. The lateness in the day threw blue light everywhere and made the neon of the light all the more luminous. But it also made the city seem incredibly somber. Or maybe that was just them.

“Ah, my thanks for inviting me, Zer0, I forgot to say so earlier--”

“Is there something wrong? / You seem quite distant tonight / I am worried, friend.” Zer0 asked.

“Ah I am… thinking, my friend, is all,” Fl4k offered, which was true. About a lot. Mostly about asking the Firehawk if it was at all possible to take two weeks off to go looking through the darkest and most vicious corners of some wild planet for a grand hunt so that they could focus on something else than this pain.

“About what, my friend / If I can inquire of you / I am truly worried,” Zer0 asked.

“... My sentience is still new. I am still… learning,” Fl4k admitted. “Humans, they elude me. All their little ticks and habits and relationships and worries their positive traits and their negative ones. They’re such unnecessarily complex creatures, and those are the ones that are not the twisted and mental broken creatures that we call bandits.”

Zer0 stepped up to stand beside them and look out over the blue city with its brilliant stripes. Like a colorful poisonous creature, oh so pretty with its vibrant colors that drew you in until it could strike or flee. There was a beauty in it.

“The hunt and death are so much simpler. You hunt down the creature and take it down or kill it. And the hunt may be long and exhausting and tired and complex, but it is straightforward at its core, in its roots. Death is also simple. It may take a long time, your death might be this complex play of sorts where you dance around it for hours or days or months of years, but in the end, you embrace Death. She takes you into her arms. But this…”

Zer0 craned their head and the plating that made up their face shifted. They were cocking an eyebrow at them, questioning.

“... I have developed the ability to find romantic and sexual attraction towards people. These feelings are needlessly complex and have such odd effects. Despite knowing that you have your own pack I have… developed feelings towards you. Towards Rhys. Towards Axton. My… apologies…”

Zer0 did not immediately answer for a moment, dark eyes focused on the blue city before the two of them. And then they let loose a decidedly shaky exhale, like the one that Zane or Amara or Moze would take after a rather brutal gunfight and the all clear was sounded. A sigh of… relief then? But…

Zer0 turned towards them and the plating shifted once more, revealing sharp little teeth. They were smiling…

“I apologize / but inviting you over / was to discuss that,” Zer0 said. “We have developed / feelings for you as well Fl4k / and wanted to talk.”

“We?”

“Hi.”

They turned around and found Axton and Rhys waiting a few feet away, apparently having made it past Fl4k’s specially programmed sensitive hearing.

“Let me start over / our dear friend and maybe more / will you join our pack?” Zer0 asked with a soft chuckle.

And… maybe things were… not so complex after all…

* * *

“Well that frown got turned upside down.”

They looked up from where they were watching Amara and Zane tussled harmlessly on the floor, Amara’s brawn apparently not a total win over Zane’s wiriness and sheer want to win, to the bar owner as she came around to collect empty bottles and hip check things out of the two Vault Hunters’ way..

“My face doesn’t move…”

“Just an expression, sugar,” Moxxi chuckled. “I mean… you’re looking a lot happier.”

“Ah, yes… my thanks for the excellent advice before, Moxxi,” Fl4k said.

“Think nothing of it, sugar. I always look after my best customers, and the ones that sometimes help me kill my exes violently,” Moxxie smiled, giving them a wink before stepping over the two Vault Hunters still going at it to grab bottles from the other side of the room.

“Gonna join in when Zane calls for backup?” Moze asked him.

“No, I have to leave soon. I have date night tonight.”

“Date night?” Moze asked.

“Yes. I trust you will not pass up the chance to wrestle with Amara, should Zane need help?” Fl4k asked, chuckling when Moze pinked.

“Sure sure. Go have fun… doing whatever with whomever…”

“Whomevers,” Fl4k corrected as they stood from their seat.

“Nice,” Moze grinned as they left, downing the last of her beer when Zane swatted at her ankle and giving her bottle to Moxxi before joining the fray, much to Amara’s laughing delight.

With their work pack entertained and happy for an evening, they left to get cleaned up a bit before fast traveling to Promethea and once again finding themself at Rhys’ apartment.

Where their pack was waiting for them.


End file.
